Junk Mail Recycling at My Condo

I like that the condo I am renting provides this junk mail and paper recycling bin at the mailboxes. It allows them to capture the recycling that might otherwise end up in the garbage. I know that so many times at my house junk mail would go directly from my mailbox to the recycling bin. This bin lets us capture it on a community scale.

When I peaked in, I noticed that the bin-although emptied this past week- was almost completely filled with those annoying newspaper style inserts that the postal carrier sticks in your box. As far as I know, there is no way to opt out of this type of junk mail.

I’ve never met anyone who actually reads these flyers. I don’t know how marketers track the effectiveness of these blast advertising campaigns. Obviously the method they use isn’t very effective or else we wouldn’t be having them stuffed in our mailbox on a weekly basis.

Since you can’t really opt-out of this type of junk mail, the community recycling bin at the mailboxes seems like a the best option. Better to recycle than throw it in a landfill.

To opt out of most other forms of unsolicited mail, there is Catalog Choice. Pay your bills on line and get e-statements. I’ve been doing this so many years, I am always surprised to see people still getting paper mail statements and bills, especially young people.

And don’t forget the first R is REDUCE. You don’t have to recycle something- like that bank statement- if you just get your statements electronically.